High-speed relay



Oct. 23, 1962 A. R. MOENKE I HIGH-SPEED RELAY Filed Nov. 3. 1960 Illl ll IIMHI l|ll lll (n1 'l fill "l i if 202/ i I INVENTOR.

ALFRED R. MOENKE if FIG 4 his A TTOR/VEYS.

United States Patent 3,060,292 HIGH-SPEED RELAY Alfred R. Moenke, Point Pleasant Beach, N.J., assignor to Wheelock Signals, Inc., Long Branch, N.J., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Nov. 3, 1960, Ser. No. 67,104 2 Claims. (Cl. 200-104) This invention relates to a high-speed relay having low power requirements.

The high-speed relay of the present invention includes a substantially horizontally disposed armature which is supported for pivotal movement on a horizontal axis intermediate the ends of the armature. The armature is adapted to be pivoted in one direction by an electromagnet which causes the armature to actuate a stronger spring contact; upon deenergization of the electromagnet, the stronger spring contact pivots the armature in the opposite direction, causing the armature to actuate a weaker spring contact.

The high-speed relay of the present invention is of novel, compact construction. In its preferred embodiment, the electromagnet is provided with a pair of poles, one establishing a pole face which lies above one end of the pivotal armature and the other establishing a pole face which lies beneath the opposite end of the armature. The pole faces thereby provide a maximum pole face area which keeps to a minimum the energy required to actuate the relay.

As an added feature of the relay of the present invention, the relay is equipped with magnetic flux-producing means which acts to damp the action of the armature and thereby reduce or eliminate entirely any tendency of the armature to bounce upon actuation.

For a complete understanding of the present invention, reference may be made to the detailed description which follows, and to the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the highspeed relay of the present invention;

FIGURES 2 and 3 are cross-sectional views taken along the lines 22 and 33, respectively, of FIGURE 1, looking in the direction of the arrows; and

FIGURE 4 is a vertical elevation of an alternative embodiment of the invention with a portion of the housing broken away.

Referring to FIGURES 1 and 2 of the drawings, the high-speed relay of the present invention is mounted upon a base and housed within a cover 11 which fits snugly onto the base. The 'base 10 carries a pair of spaced-apart upstanding brackets 12 for supporting a substantially horizontally disposed armature 13. The armature is supported between the brackets for pivotal movement on a central horizontal axis by a pair of laterally extending pins 14 which are journalled in bearings of the supporting brackets 12.

An electromagnet 15 is accommodated within the upper region of the housing or cover 11. The electromagnet includes a coil or winding 16, a central core 17, and poles 18 and 19 at opposite ends of the electromagnet. The pole 18 extends downwardly from the core and then turns inwardly to define a pole face 18a which is disposed above the right end of the armature as viewed in FIGURE 1. The pole 19 extends downwardly from the opposite end of the core and turns inwardly to form a pole face 19a beneath the left end of the armature as viewed in FIG- URE l.

The armature 13 carries a pair of contact-actuating arms 20 and 21. The arm 20 carries an insulated bead 22 which lies below and on one side of the pivotal axis of the armature, and the arm 21 carries a similar insulated bead 3,060,292 Patented Oct. 23, 1962 ice 23 which lies below and on the opposite side of the pivotal axis of the armature.

The arm 20 is adapted to engage and actuate a spring contact 25. The spring contact 25 is anchored to the upper end of a vertical post 26 which extends laterally with the free end thereof positioned between upper and lower contacts 27 and 28, respectively. The upper contact 27 is defined by the upper flattened portion of a post 29 bent at a right angle to the post, and the contact 28 is defined by the upper flattened and bent portion of a post 30. The spring 25 carries a contact head 25a which normally engages the upper contact 27 due to the inherent resiliency of the spring. However, when the armature 13 is pivoted in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed in FIGURE 1, the arm 20 thereof engages the spring contact 25, moving the contact head thereof into engagement with the lower contact 28.

The arm 21 is adapted to engage and actuate a spring contact 31. The spring contact '31 is anchored to the vertical end of a post 32 and extends laterally, generally parallel and in an opposite direction to the spring contact 25, with the free end thereof positioned between upper and lower contacts 33 and 34, respectively. The fixed contacts 33 and 34 are generally similar to the fixed contacts 27 and 28 described above. More specifically, the upper contact is defined by the upper flattened portion of a post 35, and the lower contact is defined by the upper flattened portion of a post 36. The spring 31 carries a contact head 31a which normally engages the upper contact 33 due to the inherent resiliency of the spring. However, when the armature 13 is pivoted in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIGURE 1, the arm 21 thereof engages the spring contact 31, moving the contact head thereof into engagement with the lower contact 34.

The electromagnet 15 is energized by a voltage impressed across the posts 37 and 38. The post 37 is connected by an insulated wire 39 to one end of the coil of the electromagnet, and the post 38 is connected by an insulated wire 40 to the other end of the coil.

The spring contact 25 is substantially stronger than the spring contact 31 so that when the electromagnet is deenergized the spring contact 25 exerts suflicient force on the armature through the arm 20 to cause the arm 21 to depress the spring contact 31 to a position in engagement with the lower contact 34. In this position, the spring contact 25 is in engagement with the upper contact 27. When the electromagnet is energized, the armature 13 is pivoted in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIGURE 1, moving the arm 20 into engagement with the spring contact 25 and thereby shifting the spring contact from engagement with the upper contact 27 to engagement with the lower contact 28. At the same time, the arm 21 is raised permitting the spring contact 31 to shift from engagement with the lower contact 34 to the upper contact 33. The armature is shown in FIGURE 1 in contact with the pole faces 18a and 18b. However, it is understood that the relay may be designed to avoid actual contact between the armature and the pole faces.

Although the contacts 27, 28, 33 and 34 may take various forms, as shown herein, they are made integrally with their respective posts by flattening the upper end of the post and bending it at right angles thereto. All of the posts are preferably embedded in insulating discs 41 set into the base 10 of the relay. All of the posts extend below the base 10* so that they can serve as prongs to permit the relay to be plugged into an established circuit, thereby facilitating the replacement of the relay.

The balanced condition of the armature and the relatively small amount of displacement which is necessary to move it from one operative position to the other makes it possible for the relay to operate at high speed and with D the expenditure of a small amount of power. The design of the relay, particularly the combination of pole faces of large area and the use of a coil having a large number of windings, contributes to the low power operation of the relay.

A modified embodiment of the highspeed relay of the present invention is shown in FIGURE 4 of the drawings. In this embodiment, one end of the armature carries a permanent magnet 42 which is positioned laterally adjacent the pole face 18a, the pole face being modified in shape from the pole face 18a so as. to avoid interference. The lines of magnetic flux of the permanent magnet 42 extend in directions perpendicular to the drawing, and this flux provides a damping action which aids in eliminating any bouncing tendency of the armature upon actuation. Although only one permanent magnet is necessary for this purpose, in the embodiment shown in FIG- URE 4, another permanent magnet 43 is shown mounted above the opposite end of the armature. The magnet 43 is spaced apart from the armature a suflicient distance to prevent the armature from engaging the magnet in its clockwise position.

The magnet 43 can also be mounted on the armature to help balance it or, alternatively, the pivotal axis of the armature can be shifted slightly to compensate for the added weight of the magnet 42.

The invention has been shown in preferred forms and by way of example only, and obviously, many variations and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention. Therefore, the invention is not to be limited to any specified form or embodiment except insofar as such limitations are set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A high-speed relay comprising a supporting base, an electromagnet including a substantially horizontally disposed coil and a pair of pole faces, means for supporting the electromagnet from and in spaced-apart relation to said base, an armature interposed between said base and the coil of the electromagnet, armature support means extending upwardly from the base for pivotally supporting the armature on a horizontal axis intermediate the ends of the armature, one of the pole faces of said electromagnet overlying one end of the armature and the other of said pole faces extending underneath the opposite end of said armature, whereby upon energization of the coil of the electromagnet the armature is pivoted to one operative position, the overlapping and opposing surfaces of the pole faces and the corresponding ends of the armature defining a relatively large area, a pair of contactactuating arms carried by the armature and extending on opposite sides of the pivotal axis of the armature, a pair of spring contacts, legs supporting each of said spring contacts from said base and in operative relationship with the respective contact-actuating arm so that each spring contact is actuated by one of the contact-actuating arms, the spring force on said armature exerted by the spring contact engaged by the contact-actuating arm during the energization of the electromagnet being greater than the spring force on said armature of the other spring contact, whereby upon energization of the electromagnet the armature is pivoted against the force exerted by the heavier spring contact and upon deenergization of the electromagnet the heavier spring contact pivots the armature in the opposite direction to another operative position, and stationary contacts supported from the base and actuated by the spring contacts when the armature is pivoted to either of its two operative positions.

2. A high-speed relay as set forth in claim 1 including permanent magnets producing an attractive force on the armature in each of its operative positions.

References tlited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,455,049 Edwards et al Nov. 30, 1948 2,923,784 Keeran Feb. 2, 1960 2,946,873 Distin July 26, 1960 2,951,134 Lazich Aug. 30, 1960 2,955,174 Richert Oct. 4, 1960 2,960,583 Fisher et al Nov. 15, 1960 

